Inauspicious beginnings: McCoist oversees his first match in charge of Rangers in Germany

It was a Rangers debut two years in the making, yet not one that Juan Manuel Ortiz will spend much time reliving in the future.

When the real SPL business begins, however, Ibrox first-team coach Ian Durrant is positive the first signing of the Ally McCoist era will create some memories to treasure.

Ortiz came close to joining Rangers
in 2009, during Walter Smith's time in charge, and was the focus of
attention as new boss McCoist began his pre-season preparations with
defeat against little Sportfreunde Lotte.

Their opponents may hail from the
fourth tier of the German league set-up, but results and performances
are obviously secondary to building up fitness at this early stage.

Ortiz worked hard during a 60-minute
shift and produced some of the neat and tidy touches that helped create
a lengthy career in La Liga, most recently with relegated Almeria.

There was also the occasional flash
of aggression that showed why he was nicknamed 'Tiger' in his homeland.

For the Rangers fans who turned out in Lotte, however, there was not a
stand-out moment to fire their imaginations. It goes without saying that
Ortiz will require time to settle in, with a language barrier just one
of the hurdles to be cleared before he fully acclimatises to his new
surroundings.

Durrant, though, is fully confident he will prove to be a wise investment.

'You can see he has nice touches,'
said Durrant.

'The lad has only been training with us for a day, so
we'll get to know him and he'll get to know us.

'He is a player who can go by
people. I think when we settle down and get into a system that suits
Ortiz and the team, then we will see the best of him.

'I went to watch him at the end of last season and was impressed by his
workrate. He was in a relegation battle with Almeria but was always
good enough to take the ball in difficult circumstances.

'He looked the best player in their team when I saw him play against Villarreal and Espanyol.

'Will he be a big player here? He will have to be. We were unlucky not
to get him a couple of years ago but we kept him in mind and have been
lucky enough to get it done. Like everything else at the Old Firm,
people can be impatient. You have to be winning games and trophies
here.

'I'm sure once Juan gets to know the
players and the club, then he will fit in very well. He is in a
different environment now where we have to be winning things and I think
he will relish that.'

It's only a fortnight short of 28 years since McCoist made his debut as a Rangers player.

Back on July 21, 1983, he scored a hat-trick in an 11-0 victory over
Swedish side Orlovs during a Scandinavian pre-season tour. It was a
fitting opening to what would become a record-breaking career of
prolific goalscoring in the colours of the Ibrox club.

Fast forward to the present day and here he was in the dugout for the first time as the bona fide boss of Rangers.

The SolarTechnics Arena may be far removed from the Champions League
venues McCoist hopes to visit this season, yet this quiet town in
western Germany boasts a community set-up that provides an example to
clubs back home.

A strong
Rangers starting line-up included Ortiz but was without Madjid
Bougherra, left out following his summer exertions with Algeria.

Up for it: Rangers ace Lee McCulloch (left) rises in the air with Kai Koitka

That meant veteran captain David Weir - who will shortly sign a new one-year deal - was joined by Kirk Broadfoot in central defence.

Some slack passing by Broadfoot and Weir presented a couple of chances to Lotte as Rangers' rust showed, but neither was converted.

At the other end, a couple of long-range efforts from Lee McCulloch and Steven Whittaker were pretty much all Rangers mustered in a decidedly low-key first half

With another game against Bochum tomorrow, McCoist made sweeping changes at half-time, with only four of the starting line-up re-emerging for the second period.

Neil Alexander, Jordan McMillan, Salim Kerkar, Kyle Hutton, John Fleck, David Healy and youngster Kane Hemmings were all introduced but the revamped line-up fell a goal behind eight minutes after the restart.

McMillan was unable to cut out a deep cross from the right and Simon Engelmann cracked a shot past Alexander to the delight of the locals in the 2,000 crowd.

Ortiz then departed after an hour to be replaced by Danish kid Thomas Kind Bendiksen, as the rest of the game petered out.

'We'll get there,' said Durrant as he looked ahead to further tour matches against Bochum and Bayer Leverkusen.

'We know that the boys who started the game are good enough to turn the corner and improve.'